US Army soldiers conduct electronic warfare operations during field exercises at Camp Atterbury. (US Army)  The US Army's top officer is leading an effort to implement changes to the ground service's strategy for capability development on electronic warfare (EW) and deep-sensing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations, identifying both areas as top priorities for research, development, and procurement.  “I think we recognise that EW is an area that the army has probably made limited investment in as a capability during...

Under a recently announced agreement, Australian company Sentient will provide its Visual Detection and Ranging (ViDAR) system for Shield AI's V-BAT unmanned aerial vehicle (pictured) to enhance the surveillance capabilities of the platform. (Shield AI)  Australia's Sentient Vision Systems has signed an agreement with US-based Shield AI to provide its wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) system for the latter's V-BAT unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).  Under the agreement, Sentient will supply its Visual Detection and Ranging (ViDAR) system, which wi...

A rendering of the Relay Ground Station-Asia antenna facility to be deployed in Guam. (Northrop Grumman)  A critical piece of the US Navy's early warning missile defence capability in the Indo-Pacific has achieved a key development milestone, clearing the way for eventual fielding and deployment into the region.  Service officials overseeing the Relay Ground Station-Asia (RGS-A) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) antenna programme approved the Northrop Grumman-built system for critical design review (CDR) certification, comp...

The NAIAD drone integration system unveiled by Navantia has been updated with new functionalities. Pictured is the shore configuration utilised during the ‘Dynamic Messenger 2023' maritime unmanned systems exercise held in Portugal in September. (Victor Barreira)  Spain's Navantia Sistemas has developed an improved configuration of its Naval Advanced Integrated Autonomous Defence (NAIAD) software-based unmanned systems tactical integration solution with updates and new functionalities, the company's European programme director Angelina Cajade...

France is to upgrade its A330-200 Phénix MRTT fleet into C2 nodes for the Future Combat Air System/Système de Combat Aérien du Futur. (AAE)  France is to upgrade its fleet of Airbus Defence and Space (DS) A330-200 Phénix Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft for greater command-and-control (C2) connectivity, the manufacturer announced on 23 October.  The Standard 2 upgrade will convert the French Air and Space Force's (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace: AAE's) final fleet of 15 aircraft “into a high bandwidth communication relay node, with...

Two of three 737 NG airframes undergoing conversion to Wedgetail AEW1 platforms by STS Aviation Services in Birmingham, England. The MoD has cited contractor performance and other issues behind delays to the programme. (Boeing)  The United Kingdom has spelt out the causes for the delay to the delivery schedule of the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning Mk1 (AEW1) aircraft.  Answering questions in the House of Commons on 18 October, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence (MoD), James Cartlidge, said the delay had been caused by...

The Himera G1 handheld jam-resistant radio displayed at the Inscience Conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, in June 2023. The radios dimensions are 60×120×20 mm. (Julia Kuleshova/Bloomberg via Getty Images)    A handheld radio developed by Ukraine-based Himera Tech and operational with the Ukrainian armed forces has proven highly resistant to Russia's electronic warfare (EW) systems,   Janes   has learnt.     Known as Himera G1, the handheld ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio has been designed to fill a capability gap at the squ...

Ukraine's Delta system in use at the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise 2023. (NATO)  Ukraine's progress in digital transformation (DT) has been one of the reasons behind its resilience in the conflict with Russia, and this has been due as much to cultural attitudes as technology, according to Gerard Elzinga, head of digital capabilities, NATO digital staff.  Speaking at the at the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association's (AFCEA's) TechNet Europe 2023 conference in London, Elzinga said that Ukraine's development of digit...

A trial to standardise the assessment of C-UAS technologies was held in Belgium in October 2023. Pictured here are OpenWorks Vision Flex optical detection capability and the Iris system from Robin Radar. (Belgian Ministry of Defence/Gert-Jan D'Haene)  A trial to standardise the assessment of counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UASs) was held from 2 to 5 October at Lombardsijde barracks, Belgium.  Organised by the Belgium Royal Military Academy (KMS) and announced by the Belgian Ministry of Defence on 12 October, project Courageous aims to de...

Space is set to benefit in France's 2024 defence budget, with programmes such as Syracuse IV (pictured) and Syracuse V receiving funding. (Thales Alenia Space)  France has allocated over a billion euros towards the space, cyber, and robotics domain in 2024, according to the 2024 Projet de loi de finances (PLF) defence budget.  Published on 11 October, the PLF has earmarked EUR47.5 billion (USD50.2 billion) for defence spending in 2024, EUR3.3 billion more than the previous year. Investment will be channelled towards continuing to modernise th...

US Army soldiers with 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division conduct qualification exercises on AN/PRC 163 tactical radios at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (US Army)  L3 Harris is teaming up with data analysis company Palantir Technologies to develop a joint, tactical-level solution to support the Pentagon's Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) capability.    The proposed joint system will leverage several L3Harris battlefield sensor and collection platforms, and have the data move through Palantir's artificial int...

The future of US homeland defence likely includes a need to protect the army's ability to deploy from domestic bases. (376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs/Staff Sgt Stacy Jonsgaard)  US Army North is examining the impact of emerging technologies on homeland defence through to 2040, with implications for how the ground service would project power in the event of a conflict with near-peer competitors such as Russia or China.  The Future of Homeland Defense project grew out of several years of work that informally began during the US gov...

The Thales SquadNet with the SABRE android battle management application hosted on a smartphone and a tablet and connected by Bluetooth. (Thales Defense & Security)  Thales Defense & Security is offering its SquadNet small form factor handheld radio to support the US Army's emerging requirement for communications solutions in the Secure but Unclassified (SBU) environment, a company official told Janes.  Thales' SquadNet is being considered alongside offerings from TrellisWare and L3Harris to fill the SBU-enclave...

Moldova has acquired a GM 200 radar from Thales. The system operates in the 2–4 GHz frequency range and can detect threats up to 24,384 m (80,000 ft) in altitude. (Thales)  Moldova has acquired a new tactical air-defence radar from Thales following a meeting between the French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu and Moldovan Minister of Defense Anatolie Nosatîi.  The agreement is for a Ground Master (GM) 200 medium-range radar, the French Ministry of Armed Forces announced on 6 October. While at the event, Lecornu said he wanted t...

A prototype version of General Micro Systems' Extended Manpack X9 variant, being demonstrated at AUSA 2023, Washington, DC. (General Micro Systems)  General Micro Systems (GMS) are demonstrating a manpackable computer prototype of its X9 Spider family of open distributed computing architecture (DCA) small form factor systems, which company officials say can replicate 50–75% of the computing power within a tactical operations centre (TOC) or forward operating base (FOB).  The Extended Manpack X9 variant consists essentially of a single Spider...

The US Army will redesign the Abrams MBT to become the M1E3. The service expects to acquire the MBT through an engineering change proposal, according to army officials. (Combined Joint Task Force - Oper)  The new Abrams M1E3 main battle tank (MBT) design – with General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) as the prime contractor – will use various subsystem competitions to reduce the weight and sustainment tail of the tank, Doug Bush, the US Army assistant secretary for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, told Janes on 10 October.  While the most...

A screengrab of a video posted in October by the Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shows the destroyed Russian R-330ZH Zhitel Automated Jamming Station. (Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine)  A Russian R-330ZH Zhitel Automated Jamming Station has been destroyed in the Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine.  According to an announcement on 9 October by the Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the attack was “completed by artillerymen” and supported by its SOF units.  R-330Z...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 loaded with a T0 payload for SDA's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) is pictured on the launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base. (Space Development Agency)  The US Space Development Agency (SDA) is fielding tranches of new space-based missile warning and tracking satellites, and a new fire-control system is being explored for a second tranche of vehicles.  “This year we've got Tranche Zero [T0] satellites on orbit,” US Army Colonel Alexander Rasmussen, SDA's chief for the ‘Tracking Layer' said during a 9 Oc...

DRS RADA Technologies developed the nMHR, a wide-band, X-band radar sensor, for highly mobile ground-based air-defence operations. (DRS RADA Technologies)  DRS RADA Technologies has developed a wide-band, X-band radar sensor called the nMHR (Next-generation Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar) for highly mobile ground-based air-defence operations, Charlene Caputo, Business Development vice-president, told Janes.  “Traditionally DRS radars have operated in the S-band as this band offers an excellent balance of range and accuracy,” Caputo told Jane...

Teledyne FLIR's BH 3 nano UAS. Since 2017 company officials have delivered roughly 20,000 BH3 systems to 44 countries, including most recently 1,000 BH3 nano drones to Ukrainian forces. (Teledyne FLIR)  Teledyne FLIR unveiled the newest variant of its Black Hornet nano-unmanned aircraft system (UAS) at the Association of United States Army (AUSA) 2023 annual conference.  The Black Hornet 4 (BH4) variant builds upon the technical attributes of the previous iteration of the nano UAS – the Black Hornet 3 (BH3) – according to Dave Viens, vice-pre...